Inside the Braves with MLB.com's Mark Bowman

Updates on McLouth and Prado

While claiming a 4-3 walk-off win over the Phillies at Turner Field on Saturday afternoon, the Braves lost Nate McLouth to a nagging hamstring injury that could sideline him for more than just a couple of days.

McLouth strained his left hamstring on Aug. 8 at Dodger Stadium and still seemed to be favoring it when he returned to the Braves lineup on Friday night. After doing so again on Saturday, the Braves decided it would be best to give him some further rest.

“We’re not going to disable him,” Braves manager Bobby Cox said. “But it sure slowed him down. It was very noticeable even more than last night. He’s a center fielder and he’s limping. You’ve got to face the facts. But we’ll wait three or four days.”

If the Braves are forced to place McLouth on the disabled list, they’ll utilize Ryan Church in center field. While Church has proven to be a sound defender, he’s not capable of providing the speed that McLouth has provided the Braves since they acquired him in a June 3 trade with the Pirates.

“We’d miss him,” Matt Diaz said. “He’s a big reason for the turnaround we’ve had this year. When we traded for him, he changed our offense. He’s a big part of our team. Hopefully, he’s fine.”

McLouth was removed after drawing a fifth-inning walk just before Martin Prado took a swing that forced him to feel light-headed and dizzy.

Prado was removed before the start of the next half inning with what the Braves termed “heat-related symptoms.” The Braves second baseman said that he simply didn’t drink enough water before the game and became dizzy after consuming an energy drink. <p>

While he still had a headache while talking to the media after the game, Prado said he’ll be ready to play during Sunday night’s series finale against the Phillies.

Good post Davidtal. You made a good point regarding Norton. If he comes up and is lucky enough to get on base via BB, you will have to pinch run for him. The sensable move would be to option Norton for 15 days and recall Blanco to Back-up center and pinch hit. For some reason, they remain committed to Norton so it won’t happen. I would not mind seeing Infante in CF tonight against the lefty, but not sure that is going to happen either.

It’s odd how now that the Braves have been doing much better the blog has died down a bit. What is the reason for that? For me, I have a new job that is taking a lot of time.

But anyway, the braves are doing very well, and I never understood the whole Closer position anyway. I like the idea of someone who thrives on that role doing it – but if there is a situation, like on Friday night, where one pitcher would probably do better… why would you insert your closer? It just doesn’t make a heck of a lot of sense. I mean, Closer-by-committee seems to work fine… And Soriano is a GREAT closer, but Gonzo is GREAT as well, especially lately(though the law of averages will get to him…)

Prado felt dizzy while taking BP today and was removed from the lineup. He’ll see a doctor later tonight. Obviously the Braves can’t play too many games w/o both McLouth and Prado. If Prado is forced to miss another three or four games, they may have to put McLouth on the DL earlier than they wanted.

Damn, Joe Morgan is liqoured up and ready to go and we got rain. My boy Javier has been stellar lately, a 1.98 ERA in June, a 2.94 in July and a 1.80 in August. If not for the lack of run support and blown saves Javy would have 14-16 wins and be a primary contender for the CY. We need someone to put up some crooked numbers tonite. god, the news on Prado really scares me, he and Esky have been the heart of this offense for a while now. I really hope he just has an ear infection or something thats making him dizzy. Him being dizzy kinda makes me think about some of the bloggers here…..

Let’s just say that I am very relieved that Infante is off of the DL. This is not the time for the injury bug to hit the Braves, let’s hope the injuries stop with McLouth and Prado. More than likely, it sounds like Prado may miss another game or two max unless something crazy comes from this dizziness. Hamstrings can be incredibly hard to heal and I’m sure that if McLouth does not show improvement in the next couple of days, he will be put on the 15-day DL. My assumption is that Barton or Jones would then serve as the backup outfielder. Let’s just hope that Nate improves within the next couple of days.
Here’s another question, what does everyone think about tonight’s lineup?
1. Infante
2. Anderson
3. Jones
4. McCann
5. Escobar
6. Diaz
7. LaRoche
8. Church
9. Vasquez

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